Mexico and Colombia will end 2023 with a friendly against each other on Saturday at the United Airlines Field in Los Angeles.

Last month, the Mexicans advanced to the semi-finals of the CONCACAF Nations League, defeating Honduras on penalties, while Los Cafeteros remain undefeated this year following a 1-0 triumph in a friendly versus Venezuela.

Match preview

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After digging themselves a hole in the opening leg of their quarter-final tie, losing 2-0 to Honduras, Mexico stormed back in leg two, winning by that same score and holding their nerve in a shootout.

To their credit, El Tri remained patient despite the Hondurans surrounding them with numerous bodies behind the ball and wasting time at virtually every instant in the return engagement, evening that tie at two with a goal in the 11th minute of stoppage time before converting all five of their spot kicks.

Thanks to that triumph, Jaime Lozano's men will be a part of the Copa America next summer, drawn in a group featuring Jamaica, Venezuela and Ecuador.

Throughout the 2023 Gold Cup, Mexico were airtight defensively, failing to concede a goal in the knockout stage of that tournament, which they eventually won.

Since the conclusion of that competition, their attack has been their saving grace, with El Tri netting multiple times in five of their six competitive fixtures while conceding multiple strikes on four of those occasions.

The Mexicans have only beaten one side outside of CONCACAF this year (2-0 win over Ghana) while losing four of their previous six matches versus CONMEBOL opponents, failing to score in four of those encounters.

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It has been a solid year for the Colombian national team, who have not lost an international fixture since February 1, 2022 (1-0 versus Argentina).

Nestor Lorenzo's men are the only unbeaten side in CONEMBOL qualifying for World Cup 2026, thanks mainly to their defensive shape, tied for the fewest goals conceded thus far (three).

They currently sit third in the qualifying table, while this encounter will be their final one before the Copa America, where Los Cafeteros will be up against Brazil, Paraguay and whoever wins the Nations League playoff between Costa Rica and Honduras.

La Tricolor have only conceded one goal in their previous three competitive fixtures, and they have not lost a match when scoring first since the group stage of the 2021 Copa America versus Brazil (2-1).

For a side as sharp on the back end as anyone in South America, the Colombians are also a resilient bunch, coming from behind to earn a result in four successive encounters when conceding the opening goal, including a 2-1 victory over Brazil last month in World Cup qualifying.

The Colombians have not lost to a side from CONCACAF since the 2016 Copa America (3-2 versus Costa Rica) while suffering just one defeat in their last eight encounters with Mexico.

Team News

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Guillermo Ochoa was not selected to the El Tri squad for this encounter after injuring his right shoulder in their first Nations League quarter-final encounter versus Honduras following a collision with Hirving Lozano, with the latter also being left out of the squad for this friendly.

Expect to see plenty of new faces on the field for Mexico this weekend with 15 uncapped players chosen, including Guillermo Martinez, Ivan Lopez, Bryan Gonzalez, Dieter Villalpando, Andres Montano and Rodrigo Lopez to name a few.

The most experienced Mexican player selected is Cesar Huerta with five caps, while he is also the only one on the roster this weekend to have found the back of the net for El Tri, with one goal in his international career, while he also scored the winning penalty to eliminate Honduras in the Nations League.

As for Colombia, they will have a slightly more experienced side on Saturday, though nobody outside of their most capped player of all-time, David Ospina (128) and Roger Martinez (26) has made more than eight appearances for the national team (Alvaro Montero, with eight caps).

Jimer Fory, Jader Quinones and Alejandro Rodriguez are the only three players without an appearance for Los Cafeteros, while Ian Poveda of Leeds United and Devan Tanton from Fulham each have a single cap.

Cucho Hernandez was named the MVP of the MLS Cup last weekend, scoring the opening goal of that match from the penalty spot to help the Columbus Crew capture the title with a 2-1 victory over Los Angeles FC.

Mexico possible starting lineup:
Rodriguez; Garcia, Olivas, Fernandez, Campos; Lira, Cortizo; Dominguez, Gonzalez, Govea; Huerta

Colombia possible starting lineup:
Ospina; J. Mosquera, Llinas, Reyes, Tanton; Ruiz, Campuzano, Gomez; Martinez, Hernandez, H. Mosquera

We say: Mexico 0-1 Colombia

Neither side will have the best players on the field, but we do not believe the solid Colombian defence will be bothered by an inexperienced and unproven group of Mexican attackers.

A quality striker like Cucho Hernandez could make the difference this weekend for Colombia, which have faced much stronger opponents lately and got results.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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